East
[[The Four Directions|Back to the Four Directions '''main page]] [[South|Forward to '''SOUTH]] 'Traditional Associations with the EAST' Rising sun Childhood Beginnings Spring Yellow Fire Eagle Tobacco 'GMMC Associations with the EAST' Scarab Beetle totem Inner fire Otter (play/adventure) The Northeast is BIRTH Air [[South|Forward to SOUTH]] 'Thoughts on the East' GMMC Members: please add your own personal thoughts. Also, be sure to add more ideas to the lists above. Calling the Spirits of the East I call on the element of fire and the spirit of the East to be with me now. We came from the fire and we will return there someday. I bless and am grateful to the East and Father Sun for giving me life and my inner fire. For lighting my world and warming me. For my mornings and my new beginnings. For my mother and the liquid fire in her womb that created me. For my childhood, when everything was fresh and new and a lesson when I was learning to live in my new world. For the fire of my consciousness and my awareness. I bless and thank Eagle in the sky above me, who lends me his vision, his wisdom, and his power. I am one with and I bless the fire of the East. . 'The East, Children in the Jungle' Albert Marsh 7/18/11 In the four directions of aboriginal shamanism, the East symbolizes beginnings, of each day as well as the life of a newborn child. Its symbolic color is fiery yellow, the color of the rising sun, and its element is fire. The mind of a newborn baby is a blank slate. For a child each new day is an adventure of exploring an unknown country and of learning new lessons. Young children are like little shamans in that they are very aware of their bodies and the natural world around them and magic is real to them. They view the world with their fresh new senses, flowers, insects, birds, planets, stars and so on. They have not yet learned the ways of adults and in this respect they are like feral animal cubs. They haven't been taught to suppress their natural urges, but sadly they soon learn the importance that our society places on repression and shame. They are very aware of their sexual organs and quickly realize that this is not acceptable to their parents. Children resent this repression of their natural feelings. The incident is quickly forgotten but the anger and resentment is buried in their subconscious minds. These buried traumas must be healed in their later years to live full and happy lives. An animal's prime virtue is survival at all costs, survival in a dangerous and threatening world. This trait is similar to the function of the ego in an adult human. Our ego justifies our every choice and action, whatever is needed to win the competition for food, water and territory, with no regard for the welfare of others. Traditional values have no place in this way of thinking because the virtues are meant to sustain the welfare of all humanity, and is a diametrically opposed belief system. However, feral animals know that there is strength in numbers and will sacrifice their lives for the welfare of their pack. Mothers also instinctively love their children, revealing a significant difference between them and those who are self- involved and dominated by their egos. When primitive man realized that the power of the group is superior to that of the individual, it was a breakthrough over the dominance of the individual ego. Tribal members, like mothers, were willing to sacrifice their lives in battle for the benefit of the tribe. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, most children adopt the values of their parents. In Third World countries where surviving is similar to jungle survival, values have little meaning. Virtues in these impoverished countries are worthless. Theft is frequently the only choice for obtaining the food and money needed to maintain one's family. This degradation of cultural values results in a vicious downward spiral into brutal savagery. Children in these circumstances have very little chance of a normal childhood. Babies and children are totally dependent on their parents for survival. For parents who still behave like children or adolecents, this is a challenge, and it can give them an opportunity to grow beyond their selfish needs. This is particularly difficult for young parents whose own parents were similarly self-centered. Fortunately, most loving mothers understand this and strive to maintain a nurturing, safe environment for their children, but many parents expect rigid obedience from their children because of their own upbringing. This kind of conflict can cause a willful child trauma later in his life. This was true for me. The clash of will with my father in forcing me to attend kindergarten as a six year old made me believe that he no longer loved me, which was obviously not the case. This was the first time he had ever been less than loving to me. I soon "forgot" and forgave him, but my disappointment, anger and resentment lived on, buried in my subconscious, and caused my mistaken belief that I was not lovable. My relationships with friends and lovers suffered because of this, but I was eventually able recover this old memory and heal with therapy and shamanic soul- retrieval. The support and encouragement of a loving father is as important as that of a loving mother. It gives a child the confidence needed to succeed in his life. Children's joyful and loving memories stay with them into their later years, and our inner child lives on in us. If this joyful attitude of openness and receptivity is not repressed, it can brighten our later years. Most children of parents whose own parents had passed their virtues on to them in their childhood can grow into their own potential as well-adjusted adults without needing to free themselves from the wounds of an unhappy upbringing. There are some among us who can claim this heritage. It is the author's hope that this gift will be given to more children in the coming decades.